


The Adventure of Jack and Daniel on the Amazons' Planet

by Princess of Geeks (Princess)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: First Time, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 14:43:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4439777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess/pseuds/Princess%20of%20Geeks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finding a society of Amazons prompts surprising revelations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Adventure of Jack and Daniel on the Amazons' Planet

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to JD Junkie for hand-holding and encouragement, and for Paian, co-admin, for just everything. Also: Sid, we miss you. Thank you for all the stories and for your irrepressible presence.
> 
> This fic was written for Topaz Owl.

"Whoa," Daniel said, as SG-1 popped out of the gate into a grove of colossal trees, trees as big as small buildings, their walls of brick-red bark rising almost higher than a human neck could crane. White light filtered through a canopy hundreds of feet above their heads.

"I didn't know there was a stargate in Muir Woods," Sam quipped, her voice hushed in wonder. The four of them stepped onto a spongy carpet of needles. A bird chirped off to the left.

"Kids," Jack warned, moving in front of Daniel and bringing up his P-90. Daniel held his breath. At the far corners of the clearing that held the gate, six guards dressed alike in rusty brown had emerged, in two groups, from behind giant trees. They all had drawn longbows, their arrows pointed unerringly at the team.

"We mean you no harm!" Daniel shouted, putting his hands up, though how that could mitigate the message of the aimed weapons of the other three, he was never sure. "We are peaceful travelers!"

"Well-armed and peaceful travelers," the first guard shouted back, with sarcasm. She tilted her head in a signal, and the rearmost guard backed up, then turned and ran, boots silent on the thick-fallen needles. All six were women, Daniel noted, of varied sizes and colors, but they all seemed on the young side. Four had long hair braided in crowns. Two had short-cropped hair.

"Sam," Daniel urged, and she, understanding immediately, stepped up beside Jack and called, "We want to talk, to meet your people. See what we could exchange with each other."

"Is it always your way to bring men through the portal?" the same guard asked, without moving or changing her aim.

"Yes," Sam said confidently. Daniel winced, but what could they do but tell the truth? He next expected a question, as was so often the case, challenging Teal'c's presence, but it did not come. The guard who had been speaking conferred quietly with the woman next to her, both their arrow-points never wavering from their aim at the team's chests.

Teal'c took the opportunity to mutter what Daniel, in the excitement, had forgotten to notice. "The probe has not been disturbed. They must have known it to be remote-controlled and waited for us to arrive before showing themselves."

"Great," Jack said, meaning the opposite.

The same guard said, "You will remain where you are until the runner returns with the Speaker. We must be cautious of strangers."

"A good policy," Jack piped up, "but we think you're doing just fine with the speaking."

"Nevertheless, we will wait for the Speaker." The way she said it clearly gave the term a capital letter, Daniel thought.

"We're cautious of strangers, too," Sam went on gamely. Daniel imagined she, too, was thinking maybe it wasn't such a great idea to let Jack open negotiations. "We are a team of explorers who travel through the gates, the portals, seeking knowledge and allies."

"Strangers are few here," the guard said. "The worlds we know through the portal are already our allies, and they do not send their men when they travel to us."

"Well, I can certainly vouch for our men," Sam said. "I'm Samantha Carter, and this is Daniel Jackson, and Jack O'Neill, and Teal'c. Daniel spoke the truth -- we don't mean you any harm, though we do carry weapons for defense, as you do."

"I am called Teca, chief of the day guards at the portal. It's good that you can vouch for the men you have brought."

"Greek?" Daniel muttered under his breath to Jack, who shrugged. The utilitarian clothes the guards wore didn't give Daniel much to go on, and one name wasn't much either, but it was a clue, at least. They had metal arrowheads, he determined by squinting.

"Metal arrowheads," Jack whispered, and Daniel smiled and shrugged in his turn.

Sam was prattling on, pausing to see if Teca or another of the guards would answer, but they now seemed determined to wait silently for their reinforcements.

After a bit, Teal'c perked up, looking into the forest behind the guards, and a tall, older woman soon appeared, dressed in blue and gray, a vaguely Greek-style tunic over her leggings, Daniel judged. She reminded him a bit of Travell of Tollana. She was boxed by more of the bow-wielding guards -- all female.

When she drew close enough, she stopped, and the guards stopped with her. "I am Urania, the Speaker for the portal region. Why have you come armed, and bringing men, to Patrida?"

"Greek, definitely," Daniel whispered to Jack, feeling a little more sure of himself now. Historical conjectures began running through his mind.

"I was just explaining to Teca," Sam said, "that we are explorers. We travel to many worlds in search of knowledge and allies. We are armed in self-defense only."

"And the men?" the Speaker persisted.

"It's an everyday thing for men to travel and to meet strangers, where we come from," Sam said. She seemed about to say more, but stopped.

"Your world must be a long way off," Urania said drily.

Sam insisted, "Please, we mean no harm. All we want is to meet your people, your leaders, and discuss how we can share our knowledge. We might be able to help each other."

The Speaker and Teca shared a whispered conversation. The Speaker seemed amused; Teca a bit scandalized. Finally the Speaker, flanked by two of her guards, arrows still pointed at the team, stepped closer, but never, Daniel noted, within arm's length. She looked them over closely, one by one, seeming to examine their weapons, their tac vests, their sleeves, even the watch on Jack's wrist. She seemed especially intrigued by Teal'c's staff weapon, which he was holding upright in favor of training a zat on the guards.

Finally she stepped back. "We would like to welcome you to Patrida. I feel we have much to learn from each other. But we must conduct a ritual first. It is against our customs, and will anger our goddesses, if men are allowed inside the city wall. However, there is a way we have of dealing with this situation. For the duration of your visit, we will petition a goddess to make you three, how should I put it, the equivalent of women."

A murmuring spread through the guards, quelled immediately at a glance from the Speaker.

"Um, could I ask," Daniel began, "what the nature of the ritual is?"

"Yes," Jack added. "And whether it is _invasive._ "

The Speaker smiled. "Please, don't be alarmed. No harm, or indeed, any visible change, will come to you. It is a simple, brief ceremony that involves prayers, and also a ribbon to be tied around your wrists, which you must wear continually for the duration of your time here."

Daniel glanced around. The guards were still definitely wide-eyed.

"Doesn't sound so bad," Jack said.

"Please," Urania said, and at a gesture from her, all the guards unbent their bows. Sam sighed aloud and let her P-90 rest against her chest. Daniel heard Teal'c's zat folding up on itself. Jack was the last to lower his weapon, but he did it.

Flanked and followed by the frowning guards, they followed Teca out of the grove. The Speaker brought up the rear. Daniel allowed himself only one glance back at her, serene and regal, marching unflaggingly behind them all.

After roughly a twenty-minute hike from the grove where the gate was located, the team could see the stone walls of the settlement. The terrain they traveled through was rolling hills, a semi-dry upland with a bright sun and a cool breeze. In the distance, they could see several small flocks of what appeared to be goats. And when they reached the top of one of the hills, they glimpsed the glimmer of the sea, a long way off.

Near the town wall, just off the beaten path, in a less-spectacular grove of ordinary trees, was another clearing, ringed by standing stones, with an altar and what looked like a rock-lined well or spring in the middle. Here they were kept waiting, still watched by the guards. The men were noticeably shunned, but Sam was able to engage the Speaker in what appeared to Daniel's ears to be polite, but superficial conversation.

Eventually a delegation arrived, which, they were informed, included priestesses of Hygia. The ceremony to make the three male SG-1 members into honorary women was just as promised -- brief and entirely noninvasive. Some chanting, a sprinkling of water from the spring, and once the climax of the ritual was achieved and the three men each had a red ribbon tied around their wrists, the guards, the priestesses and the Speaker all noticeably relaxed and became more cheerful.

"Come!" the Speaker insisted. "We've all been out in this heat for far too long. Let us enter the city and see what we might do for each other. Lunch has been prepared for you."

Daniel met Jack's eyes, and they both shrugged.

"Different," Jack offered, and Daniel could only nod. Daniel's gaze was drawn everywhere as they went through the city to a modest stone building on the Greek model. It was as if they'd been transported to a minor Attic city-state, except for the complete lack of men.

Over lunch Urania introduced the team to another woman, Karina, who was given a title that Daniel translated as "beloved," and to Urania's daughter.

"And her father?" Daniel asked, trying for innocently curious instead of astonishingly curious.

"All our children have Apollo as their father," Urania said, as if that explained everything.

"Well, forgive me if I'm asking about things that are private or not discussed. But on our planet, one widespread custom is to form long-term paired commitments between the sexes, and most children know who their human father and mother are and often live with both. What is your system?"

Urania shook her head in wonder. "Men have their own ways here, and their own settlements. We come together briefly, at several celebrations during the year that are dedicated to the creation of children."

"So the boys are raised by their fathers, and the girls by you," Daniel concluded. "And women do all the communicating with the outside world and with other planets."

"Exactly," Urania beamed, pleased that her guest caught on so quickly.

After lunch the party broke up for a stroll through a park-like area outside the hall. Jack and Daniel found themselves left alone. Teal'c and Sam were talking animatedly with Karina and Alessa, Urania's daughter.

Jack said, "Should we be asking about defensive wristbands and their technology for an invisible plane?" Daniel laughed. "I'm referring to this as Planet Amazon from now on," Jack asserted.

"It's a fascinating question, really," Daniel began. "I wish there were some way to trace their beliefs back to those myths -- there's a great deal of conjecture about the actual Earth Amazons; if they even existed, who they were exactly."

"The weird thing is that they don't seem to know the Goa'uld at all, even though a bunch of snakeheads we've run into were Greek or Roman gods."

"It's often the case that the planets like this one, from your downloaded list, and not from the Abydos cartouche, have been abandoned by the Goa'uld or never were discovered by them, it's true. But if they have a wholly different historical connection to Earth..." Daniel shook himself before he could get lost in so-far ungrounded speculations. "I'd love to know more."

"I know. If we have time."

Time indeed. Daniel sighed inwardly. Unless they came up with some reason to trade with these people, all his questions about their culture would be forever unanswered. That happened way too often, and even when they did meet a culture that merited a longer visit, there was never enough time to learn everything he wished to.

They were approaching, in their circuit of the park, Sam and Teal'c's group. When she caught sight of them, Sam said, "Sir, or, um, Ma'am, Karina here is a healer, and has been telling me some very interesting things about their method of anesthesia. She's invited us to visit the hospital, which is nearby, and get a short tour."

"Great," Jack said, with only a momentary blank look at the way Sam changed her greeting of him. "You and Teal'c head that way, and Daniel and I will go back to the gate and phone home. If that's okay with you," he finished, looking at the women.

Alessa spoke up. "We have no objection. I will inform my mother."

The grove of what appeared to be giant redwoods was even more beautiful in the late afternoon light. The boles of the trees appeared to be edged with shimmering gold. Daniel admired them as he dialed Earth.

Jack had exchanged an informal salute with Teca, who stayed at her post with the others, in wooden guard shacks intentionally concealed behind two of the huge trees.

Through the MALP camera, Hammond approved of their report and gave them permission to stay overnight if it seemed warranted.

"....And the red ribbon?" he asked, smiling.

"Oh, that. Just a little accessory they wanted us to have. It really clashes with the overall peridot scheme, though, don't you think?"

"Hammond out," he said, shaking his head.

Daniel was puzzled. "Why didn't you tell him?" he asked, as they returned unhurriedly toward the town.

"Tell him what?"

Daniel hated it when Jack did that. "About the way this society is structured," he said, trying for patience. "About the meaning of the red ribbon."

"I thought I'd leave that up to you, in the report you'll write when we get back. Besides, it's not really relevant at this point, is it? And 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is all about not making a big deal of stuff like that."

"'Don't Ask Don't Tell' doesn't apply to civilians, let alone aliens, and it could turn out to be a very big deal if we need to send teams here in the future."

"You'll handle it."

"You seem very sure of that. Almost smug about it, even."

"You'll know how to spin it to Hammond. Of course I know our regs don't apply to outsiders, but they've certainly got me out of the habit of talking about people's relationships, ever. Anyway I don't see a need to make their society's boy-and-girl arrangements into a thing. And I'm surprised you do, honestly. I'd've thought you'd let it all pass by without comment. I thought you'd think it was, I don't know, within the range of normal human behavior. Like Radcliffe and Harvard in the fifties; something like that."

Daniel adjusted his glasses. "You're right -- I would judge being gay as normal. Not deviant. In fact, well.... Anyway. My point is that just because it doesn't offend me doesn't mean it's not interesting or worthy of note. The way their society is structured is fascinating and highly unusual -- not just in their acceptance of same-sex relationships but in the way they've also created a sexually segregated way of life." Jack appeared to listen at least somewhat patiently to the mini-lecture that followed on homosexuality, status markers, and Earth-typical forms of gender segregation.

When Daniel paused for breath, Jack said, "For a minute there I thought you were going to get a lot more personal about it. Not so academic."

Daniel glanced at him sharply. They were walking side by side through the hilltop meadow with the view of the sea. That distant blue was where Jack's gaze was fixed.

Jack rarely hinted around at private stuff like this. What was he getting at? Daniel wanted to know, and basic psychology offered him a way forward -- the way to elicit an intimate answer was to offer something intimate. Yet Daniel hesitated. He hated talking about himself. Hated making anything like this subject personal. But something about Jack's downright voluble discussion so far....

Daniel drew a breath, trying to bolster his courage. "The fact that I was married actually says very little about my innate orientation, if that's what you're getting at. I don't have all that much sexual experience compared to some people of our generation, but if you pinned me down and made me quantify it, I'm almost certainly on the gay side of the Kinsey scale." He kicked at clump of grass beside the path. "But on the other hand, that simply hasn't been very relevant. It's always been easy for me to avoid relationships through being a workaholic, with a couple of notable exceptions who both happened to be female. That really hasn't changed lately. So yes, if you're fishing for information, I don't have any problem with their society either on a personal level, or on a theoretical or moral level."

Jack looked very serious, but he met Daniel's eyes for a moment. "I wouldn't call it fishing for information. Sure, I wondered about you -- how could I not? But like I said. It's something I'm trained to not talk about. 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' didn't make anyone safe. It just made the closet a lot more comfortable, is all. But I don't worry about judgments from you. I know you better than that."

Daniel was astonished. Was he hearing what he thought he was hearing?

Jack went on, "You're right about avoiding relationships through workaholism, though. That always made avoiding conversations like this a snap for me." And Jack smiled wryly, and Daniel noticed they were back at the city gate. "And then there's the whole 'swore an oath' thing, of course."

Daniel realized his mouth was hanging open and closed it.

A woman they had not met before was waiting for them inside the open gate. "I hope your walk was pleasant," she said. "I have been asked to show you to the rest of your team at the hospital."

And off they went.

Daniel's role of hanging back while Sam and Teal'c explained what they'd learned was, for once, very welcome. He tried with part of his mind to gather information about the new culture by watching and listening. But he was quite distracted by Jack's statements.

Unless he was very much mistaken, they'd just come out to each other as bisexual, or, at the very least, a bit bent. He tried not to get carried away by what that might mean for the future. Years ago he had resolutely tamped down his immediate and intense attraction for Jack, using a slew of logical arguments -- Jack was probably straight, his campy posturing and ribald sense of humor notwithstanding. Even in the unlikely event that Jack were attracted to Daniel in return, getting involved with a team member was most likely a recipe for disaster. Daniel had never had a successful relationship, period; better not to go there now. His attempts to quash his attraction to Jack had mostly succeeded, and it had been sublimated into their complex and, in many ways, difficult friendship. But he found himself looking at Jack in an entirely new light now, reevaluating their history together, as well as what history of Jack's he knew.

In the meantime, the Patridan doctors expressed their willingness for the team to return to Earth with some samples of their anesthetics. Based on what they had been told, Sam was quite excited about the possibilities. Rejoining the Speaker, they discussed the types of items the Patridans might want to trade for, if the anesthetics lived up to their reputation. Sam was eager to return right away and let Janet begin an analysis, even though that meant declining their hosts' offer of an overnight stay and more tours. The Speaker seemed eager for them to meet as many people as possible in her region. She was quite disappointed when they elected to go home at once, though she was very polite about it.

"As you are returning home immediately through the portal, there is one more thing," Urania said, as she led them out of the city. Instead of heading straight for the stargate, she turned aside at the temple of Hygia. Daniel had wondered why some of the priestesses had accompanied them. Now he had his answer. It seemed the men were to have their ribbon ritual reversed. This was accomplished quickly -- more quickly than the first ceremony -- and when it was over, the priestesses and acolytes filed back toward the town, taking the ribbons with them.

As the remaining group left the shrine for the stargate, evening was falling. Urania waved the rest of her delegation on, quickly overruling an attempt at protest from the guards and from her daughter. As the women turned away reluctantly, it was easy to read Urania's meaningful glance from Sam to Jack. "A word, if it is permitted," she began, with the first bit of hesitancy Daniel had seen in her.

"Carry on, Major," Jack said. "The menfolk will catch up."

"Yes, sir," Sam said, but she looked back as she stepped away with the others toward the path that led to the gate.

"Now that you are men once again, we have another request for you to consider," Urania said. "It seems cold-hearted to couch this in terms of trade, but nevertheless. The rarity of a trade delegation including males is what prompts my request, although as you may have noticed, it scandalizes not a few of the traditionalists in our city, Teca among them. In a few weeks is our Festival of Aphrodite. Later in the fall will be the Festival of Dionysius. We would like to extend an invitation to the three of you to return, but this time to join our men for the festivals instead of undergoing the ribbon ceremony and entering our city."

"You need, how shall I put it, fresh blood," Daniel said, hazarding a guess.

"Again, this is point of intense controversy among our historians, our leaders and our priesthood, but if I invite you, it will be accepted."

"Lots of history here, I'm thinking," Jack said.

"Indeed," Urania said, and folded her hands over her sash. "And I would not wish to subject you to a lengthy lecture about our past, but as Daniel has put it, 'fresh blood' is, to me at least, most welcome. To be brief, let me just say that women far outnumber men here, for reasons that are greatly disputed. But without recapitulating more history than it would be possible to tell in the short walk to the portal, would it be possible for you to accept our invitation?"

"Well, there's a problem with that," Jack said. "The three of us would find it extremely difficult to get interested in any of your fair residents when it comes to the 'making babies' thing. By coincidence, all three of us are from a faction on Earth that prefers to stick with men. We call it 'batting for the home team.' Or, more briefly, 'being gay.' "

" 'Gay,' " Urania said, turning the new term over in her mind as she spoke it.

Daniel, who needed all his self-control not to let his extreme amazement show, put in quickly, "It's an informal term, actually. Both are, um, informal terms."

"So I'm afraid," Jack went on, with the expansive hand gestures and glances aside to Daniel and Teal'c, that showed he was really struggling to be diplomatic, "that although we would be very honored, and especially honored because it's clear you have to work hard to allow strange men to come through the gate, the portal, at all, I'm afraid that for the three of us it's just not possible."

"I see," Urania said, not attempting to mask her disappointment.

"But thank you very much for the invitation," Daniel said quickly, and Teal'c said, "Indeed," in that way he had that could mean anything. Daniel actually didn't dare look at him.

Jack was edging toward the path, while thanking Urania again for lunch and for the great tour of the place and promising to be in touch soon about trade samples and the anesthetics.

Soon enough they arrived at the massive grove of alien redwoods. The delegation of Patridans waited at the edge of the clearing while Sam dialed the gate.

Teal'c took the opportunity to lean his head toward Jack. He said quietly, "O'Neill, you mischaracterized my sexual orientation entirely."

"I know, I know, or at least I assumed -- but did you really want to get roped into being a sperm donor for these folks? Possibly fathering kids you would never get to meet?"

"I would not," Teal'c answered.

"Well, then, my little white lie worked, didn't it? No one else has to know what I said, if that's a problem."

"It is not," Teal'c said, "but it most certainly was an untruth."

"I think the three of us can all live with that. Enough said," Jack said, smiling and waving back at the Patridans, and then the four of them were through the gate and home.

The anesthetic turned out to be useful, though not miraculous, and Hammond, although bemused by the entire setup on Patrida, was glad enough to let Sam return to Planet Amazon, as Jack insisted on calling it, with samples of fabric, dye, and various peaceful technology based on batteries and circuit boards, along with Janet, one of her female nurses, a female anthropologist from Daniel's department, and a couple of female airmen drawn from SG-3 and SG-12. It was an interesting start for their alliance with the planet, Hammond concluded.

Daniel figured Jack was happy not to have to deal with Urania's invitation again, though Daniel himself was quite disappointed that there didn't seem to be a way for him to make contact with the men's side of Patridan society. Although he, too, was grateful that they had found a way to avoid being sperm donors, as Jack had put it.

All too soon, his attention was diverted to the next mission.

But, he found himself brooding over what he'd learned. Jack had come out to him. And had seemed unsurprised to find out about Daniel himself -- had seemed to feel Daniel's admission had simply confirmed his instincts about Daniel. So. Where did that leave their friendship?

Just because they both were open to same-sex relationships didn't imply that the next step was a relationship with each other. And yet.... Daniel had to admit it made him hopeful. And curious. But he was reevaluating everything he'd assumed about Jack. What was the significance of Jack's marriage to Sara, in light of what Daniel now knew? Had she known he was bisexual? And what about Jack's other past relationships, if any? Sara was all Daniel knew about -- and the way he had finally met her face-to-face had been so tragic that he'd never had the heart to bring it up again. Jack certainly hadn't. There were encounters Jack had had since they'd been on SG-1 together, but those were easier to dismiss as situational or even... what would be an acceptable term.... Inadvertant?

Aside from that, was Jack celibate now? Did he have secret, fleeting relationships outside the Mountain? (Or within it? ... But this conjecture Daniel did not allow himself to dwell on. At all.) Did Jack have one-night stands? If he did, were they with men or with women? Did he go to Denver for sex? Were his trips back to Chicago to "visit family" something else? Something more?

Daniel tried very hard not to let his speculations run away with him.

But one night he'd drunk a bit more than he should have after a team dinner at Jack's always-comfortable house, and found himself sitting on the sofa, contemplating his empty glass of wine and the possibility that he should crash here and not drive home.

"So, Amazon Planet," Jack said, and Daniel looked up, and there was Jack right in front of him, putting a mug with steam coming out of it on the coffee table, and stepping around to sit next to Daniel with his own cup. Daniel reached for the mug. Coffee seemed like the best idea ever. Jack went on, "I guess Wonder Woman and her buddies were definitely interested in a bunch of the stuff Carter and Suarez took back to trade."

"I guess so," Daniel answered. He was distracted by the coffee. He had to sip it; it was very hot and fresh. It tasted wonderful; maybe something imported? He would have to ask. In a minute.

Jack continued, "The weirdest thing about that mission was finally saying, 'By the way, I'm gay,' in public. Right there in front of Urania, God, Teal'c, and everyone. Did it seem that way to you?"

Daniel almost slopped his coffee on his knee. This was Jack? Saying this stuff?

Daniel sat up straighter and looked to his right. Same Jack. Looked the same, dressed the same, drank his coffee the same.

Daniel said, "You're gay?"

Jack looked miffed. "I thought we talked about this already."

Daniel's eyes got wide. "Sure. Sure we did. I mean, we hinted at some stuff, shared some... stuff. But I thought what you said to the Speaker was mostly a way to politely block her invitation for us to become part of their gene pool."

"Well, it was that for sure -- and you saw how for Teal'c it was a lie. But for me, no. And from what you said... Well, you described yourself as being on the gay side. Straight out." Jack was trying not to smile, at the bad pun or for some other reason. There was a twinkle in his eye, too. Daniel put his mug on the table and edged a little closer to Jack. When all Jack did was raise his eyebrows, Daniel swallowed hard and put his hand on Jack's thigh.

Daniel said, "Thanks for the clarification. It's very dangerous to assume things."

"Dangerous?" Jack said, deceptively lightly. His thigh seemed so hot to Daniel's touch. Or was it Daniel who was on fire?

Jack's face was so, so close.

Daniel forged ahead. "I know that coming out to each other does not in any way imply that the next step is intimacy, but..."

"That's a very important 'but,' there, Doctor Jackson." Jack put his palm against the side of Daniel's head. He leaned in.

"I think we can stop discussing this now," Daniel breathed, and Jack had just enough time to say, "Oh, good," before their lips met.

It was warm, and welcoming, and anything but strange, which was itself strange since it had been a long, long time since Daniel had kissed anyone, and the last person he had kissed was not someone he wanted to remember.

Mercifully, bad memories were wholly inadequate to the task of pulling him away from the here-and-now.

Jack's mouth. His touch. Hands, then the press of his body against Daniel's. They were kissing harder, holding each other tight, tighter, and then Jack laughed and pulled his mouth aside to rest his forehead on Daniel's shoulder.

Daniel was lost in amazed arousal. Feeling Jack's body through his shirt, feeling him breathe, floating inside his cloud of warm scents -- laundry soap and fading aftershave and the smoke from the charcoal fire from earlier, when he'd grilled them all steaks on the deck.... A feeling of homecoming, of sheer love, poured through Daniel and he clutched harder.

"Oh, thank god," Jack was saying into Daniel's shirt. "Thank god."

Daniel felt his own laughter welling up. He disengaged one arm from Jack's, pulled his glasses off, and tossed them in the general direction of the coffee table. "Thank Wonder Woman, don't you mean?"

"Her too," Jack agreed, and they were kissing again, wetly, deeply, like they were making up for lost time, like they could never get enough of each other's mouths.

"I can't believe this," Daniel said.

"I can," Jack said. "Very easily. And if you need a more intense reality check, the bedroom's that way."

Daniel leaned back, wanting to look into Jack's eyes, wanting a visual check on what he had been feeling. What he saw made him catch his breath. Jack looked weary, and hopeful, and happy -- in short, he looked entirely unguarded.

"We're doing this," Daniel said, wonder filling his voice.

"We sure are," Jack said, and stood up, and held out his hand.

They went down the hall together.

Stripping wasn't anything new; he'd seen Jack in the base showers hundreds of times. But stripping with intent; noticing how his eyes were drawn inexorably down the spare length of Jack's torso to his steadily rising erection -- that was new.

Very new.

Finding himself entirely without clothes, and seeing that Jack had paused, standing there naked by his unmade bed, Daniel went to him and wrapped his arms around him. Jack gave a huff of pleasure and hugged him back, then began edging them toward the mattress. Daniel got in one quick kiss before they had to let go, just a bit, in order to get horizontal.

"Tsk, tsk," Daniel said. "Such a messy untidy bed, and you a colonel in the Air Force."

"Everyone's a critic," Jack said, and then they were kissing again, kissing and rolling in a disorganized way from their sides to sloppily atop each other, with no discernible pattern and no real clue as to who would wind up on top, eventually, if anyone.

All that skin. It was sublime. It was heaven on earth.

Jack's hands were everywhere, touching him, smoothing over him, all of him without hesitation, and Daniel was doing the same. During a kiss that seemed to have no end, Daniel got a hand between them as they lay, for the moment, on their sides, and ran his palm down over smooth skin and wiry hair until he could close it around Jack's cock. The gasp from Jack that ended the kiss was very satisfying. It made Daniel smile.

Daniel tilted his head back so he could look into Jack's eyes and see his reactions as Daniel began to stroke him, gently, slowly.

Jack's lips parted. The tiny crow's feet at the corners of his eyes deepened. His breathing sped up.

"Is this how you want it?" Jack said. His voice was several notes deeper than usual. Daniel shivered all over as he felt Jack's hand close around his own cock.

He lost his place for a moment, and his forehead fell against Jack's. Daniel realized he'd shut his eyes, so he opened them. He was looking down, now, down through the dim light to where his hand was moving up and back along Jack's erection. Pleasure shivered through him again, as he realized he could see them both -- two hands moving, stripping....

"God," Daniel blurted, and he met Jack's eyes again. Jack's hand stilled, letting Daniel think. He paused because Jack had.

Jack said, in that deep bedroom voice that Daniel was fast falling in love with, "If this is what you want, it's fine by me. I'm just -- what did you mean, before, when you said you didn't have all that much experience?"

"What?" Daniel said, all the sensation and all the surprise still fuzzing his brain. "I meant -- I meant -- If you want to know the truth..." (of course Jack would want the truth, now and always, just as he'd always insist on the same from Jack) "...this is farther than I've ever gotten with another man. There were some moments that could have gone further, in college, but I always backed out. Is that what you wanted to know?"

Jack's smile was blinding, but wasn't the kind of happy that was going to result in a joke at Daniel's expense. Daniel could tell. Something else was going on here.

"You're kidding me -- you? With your open-minded nature? Your world-traveling ways?" Jack's knuckles were against his cheek.

"I'm not kidding," Daniel said, a tendril of cold pushing up his spine, warring with the wonderful heat and closeness he'd been feeling.

Jack pulled him close again, with both arms, mashing Daniel's hand and both their cocks between them, burying his face in Daniel's shoulder. He said, "Me, too, Daniel. Me too."

"What?" Daniel said, hanging on tight with one arm and teetering precariously on his side. Jack had grabbed on very suddenly, unbalancing them both.

"You heard me," Jack said roughly, and then he was kissing Daniel again, kissing him hard, and his hand was back on Daniel's cock, and it was moving, and then Daniel was moving too, pushing and stripping and kissing. Tongues met, the heat built and built, and Daniel gasped Jack's name and climaxed, helpless against the wave of relief and connection that suddenly swamped him.

"Yeah, yeah, Daniel," Jack was saying, and he was planting small kisses on Daniel's cheeks, on his eyes, and then he said, "Don't stop, baby, don't stop."

Daniel realized Jack was still so hard and so wet in his loose grip -- with his own fluid or Daniel's come, he couldn't tell, but he inhaled sharply and got his hand moving again. Jack, open-mouthed against his shoulder, gave a muffled groan, and then Daniel felt his teeth, felt him stiffen and seize, and felt the wet cascade of Jack's come over his hand and against his stomach. His hips gave an involuntary push against Jack's groin in sympathetic response.

"Jack, Jack, Jack," Daniel repeated, eyes closed, hands falling away but body still pressing against Jack's. The world tilted.

Some time passed. Daniel became aware that they were sprawled together on the unmade bed, and that his feet were a little cool. His head was on Jack's shoulder, and Jack's knee was bent possessively over his legs.

"Did you call me 'baby,'?" Daniel said muzzily.

"Yes. If you don't like it, I'll try to only say it inside my head from now on."

"No, no, not all. I don't mind at all. It's ... nice."

"Nice," Jack scoffed, and made an ineffective move to swat Daniel's rear.

"No hitting in bed," Daniel said, and readjusted and hitched until he was more comfortable and they were intertwined again, facing each other with their heads on pillows. He was warmer now that he had pulled more of Jack against and over him. "...I like being your first. Each other's firsts. Gay firsts," Daniel said, still feeling that his brain's speech centers had a long way to go to catch up with what he wanted to say. Orgasm made you stupid, he thought.

"Back atcha," Jack said, and he was searching Daniel's face as if trying to read a book in an unfamiliar language. He stroked Daniel's cheek, ran fingers through his hair. It felt so good. Daniel closed his eyes.

The world couldn't intrude on them, on this. Not yet. Not yet.

But still. The next words out of Daniel's mouth were, "What do we tell Sam and Teal'c?"

Jack seemed ready to answer, when Daniel opened his eyes. Jack seemed to be way more self-possessed and awake than Daniel felt at the moment, which was rather unfair.

"Tough one," Jack said, stroking his shoulder, as if despite everything they'd just done, he still felt the need to touch Daniel, to stay in contact. Daniel understood the impulse. He moved to nudge his knee farther under Jack's. "Teal'c will figure it out right away. Nothing gets by him. Carter -- we shouldn't talk about it with Carter. She might figure it out too; hard to say, but if she does the regs would make it uncomfortable for her, and might even put her in an illegal position if the shit hits the fan."

"To not let them know what's happening will feel like lying," Daniel said.

"I know," Jack said. "Get used to it, though, if you want both of us to stay on the team. And you better used to get lying to Hammond, too. We can't ever assume he would be willing to cover for this. I don't have any idea how he would react, but, Jesus, I don't want to have to find out. Pushing him in that way wouldn't be right."

Daniel rolled to an elbow, filled with a kind of energetic dread at the thought of the team breaking up over this, at the thought of how the general had to navigate the unfair regulations and laws. "And might be very very risky. For you. I know that. God, now I do know. But I want to stay on the team, Jack. I want us both to. That's selfish of me, but there it is."

"Selfish? To want to go on risking your life every day for people who probably won't ever know you even existed?" Jack's voice was full of laughter.

"Selfish in that I don't want to leave the team, or you, now, or lose the opportunity to keep exploring, keep going through the gate. Selfish that I want to have it all."

Jack pulled him down and kissed him, and left a hand on his cheek when the series of kisses ended. "Selfish we may be, but I'll tell you something -- I'm not apologizing for anything. I'm in if you are. We've risked so much already -- saved the world how many times? Mortal peril every day? Yada?"

"Sam has the tally on a clipboard on her wall -- like those safety announcements you see on factory floors. I haven't looked at the running total lately."

"Yeah, it's best not to know exactly."

Daniel closed his eyes, stunned all over again at the feel of their naked skin together, the heat created between them. Then he met Jack's eyes, and the knowing affectionate look Jack was giving him made his heart melt. Daniel said, "I'm not apologizing either. And I'm in. Which you knew already."

"I hoped you would be, if this happened. I tried not to think about it much. Closet, you know. Door firmly closed."

Daniel smiled, and again wrapped Jack close. As close as his arms would allow. "I like it in here. It's cozy. We'll order some Wonder Woman comics."

"Put up a few bookshelves, maybe a reading lamp..."

"Works for me," Daniel said, and kissed him goodnight.


End file.
